1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of pulling out a magnetic tape, adapted to attract via suction an outer circumferential surface of a wound magnetic tape and pull out an end portion thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a magnetic tape cartridge provided in a magnetic tape storage system. In the magnetic tape cartridge 1, a single reel 7 is housed rotatably in a cartridge case 5 formed by fastening an upper half 3a and a lower half 3b by screws and the like. The reel 7 has a divided structure in which a base portion integrally made of one flange and a boss is combined with the other flange, and a magnetic tape 9 is wound around the boss in a combined state. At a front end of the magnetic tape 9, a leader tape 13 to which a leader pin 11 is fixed is bonded. One side wall of the cartridge case 5 is provided with an opening 15 for pulling out the magnetic tape 9 therefrom, and this opening 15 is opened by and closed with a slide door 17 urged in the closing direction by an elastic means (not shown). When the magnetic tape cartridge 1 is not in use, the leader pin 11 at a terminal end of the tape is engaged with a recessed storage portion (not shown) formed in the vicinity of the opening 15 with the magnetic tape 9 and leader tape 13 completely wound around the reel 7. Such a magnetic tape cartridge is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-2002-269711.
The process for manufacturing the above-mentioned magnetic tape cartridge includes a step of pulling out from a wound magnetic tape an end portion thereof. In this tape pullout step, a tape pullout jig 19 a front end surface of which forms a suction surface 19a used during an air suction operation is moved toward the radial direction and away from the outermost layer of the wound magnetic tape 9, and the magnetic tape 9 in the outermost layer is thus attracted via suction and pulled out. Even when a wound quantity of the magnetic tape 9 is varied during this operation, the inconvenience can be dealt with advantageously by merely regulating the quantity of movement of the tape pullout jig 19 since the magnetic tape-end pullout jig 19 is moved in the radial direction of the wound magnetic tape 9.
However, when the movement of the tape pullout jig 19 is put forward from suction position shown in FIG. 10A to positions shown in FIGS. 10B and 10C, the magnetic tape 9 separates from the suction surface 19a as the jig 19 moves, and the magnetic tape 9 becomes easy to fall since the direction in which the suction surface 19a of the tape pullout jig 19 for the magnetic tape 9 extends and the direction of movement of the tape pullout jig 19 make substantially right angles to each other. In order to carry out this magnetic tape pullout step manually, it is necessary that this complicated magnetic tape pullout action and a magnetic tape payout action be made simultaneously. Therefore, these actions require a great deal of skill, and become an obstacle to the reduction of the man-hour and the improvement of the tactfulness of an operator. The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances.